


Old Ways, New Age

by Jarl_Deathwolf



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Badass Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Gen, Guardian Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Marinette March, Post-Episode: s03 Miracle Queen (The Battle of the Miraculous Part 2)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-02
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-14 11:48:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,947
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29791467
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jarl_Deathwolf/pseuds/Jarl_Deathwolf
Summary: The Guardian order has been suddenly restored, nearly two centuries after their disappearance from the world. They emerge into the future and immediately set out to discover what has happened to the miraculous in their absence.The last thing they expected to find was someone like Ladybug.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 16
Kudos: 94





	1. Guardian

**Author's Note:**

> Hello and welcome to my entry for Marinette March 2021! 
> 
> You may have noticed that I'm not doing all 31 prompts for this month and that is because I am doing six months of challenges all in a row and I at least want the first (marinette march) and last (Adrien August) to be pretty short. 
> 
> In any case, I hope you enjoy this story, and Marinette March in general! :D

Ladybug was swinging across the city, making her way to tonight’s meet up spot for patrol with Chat Noir. Her arms moved of their own accord and her eyes stared sightlessly into the horizon. Thoughts swirled in her head as she got lost in memories that hadn’t yet been dulled by time. 

Funny how quickly things could change. How they could catch you off guard, even when you were preparing for them. After all, what had all those lessons about the kwamis— - their names, their personalities, their tastes - been about, if not for her to replace herthe old master when the years caught up to him.

Then again, it hadn’t been the years that caught him, but Hawkmoth. Nothing like an unexpected attack to move the time tables along. In all the uncertainty that had followed her since that battle, there was one thing that was unshakably true.

Master Fu was gone and the duty of protecting the miracle box had fallen to Marinette. 

It was a fact that ran through her head at _least_ a few times every day, but no matter how many times it happened, it never failed to knock the wind out of her. Even now, weeks later, she’d be hit with a sudden wave of _sadness_ in the middle of class that she wouldn’t be able to explain to anyone. 

Even her partner, Chat Noir, couldn’t _really_ understand the full weight of what she had to deal with now. As much as she wanted to share with him, she had inherited more than just magical artifacts and responsibility from Master Fu - she’d inherited some of his caution, his paranoia. As far as she was concerned, she could bring Chat Noir into the fold slowly. However, she could never go back once she did,and she wasn’t ready to open up. Not yet. 

Which was good for safety. Though not so great for her feelings of loneliness.

Nonetheless, her heart felt lighter when she saw the silhouette of her partner outlined against the setting sun, sitting on the roof’s edge. Secrets or not, they were still a team. One day, she knew she would be willing to share everything with him. Yet that day was not today.

She landed on the rooftop with a grace that she only had in the spots, and although she was sure she hadn’t made noise, his cat ears twitched and he turned toward her. The moment his eyes landed on her, he grinned.

“And just when I was starting to think you’d _fur_ -gotten me.”

“With jokes that bad, I almost wish I had.” She raised an eyebrow, a smirk tugging at her lips. “But what can I say? I’m a glutton for _pun_ -ishment.”

Chat let out a tender sigh, putting his hands over his heart and laying on his back. “I love it when you pun with me, m’lady.”

“Don’t turn into a kitten puddle just yet, chaton.” She stood over him and nudged him in the shoulder with her foot. Their eyes locked as she leaned over him, her hands on her hips. “We’ve still got a lot of ground to cover before this patrol is over.”

“It is admirable that you adhere to something so strict a routine as a patrol.”

Ladybug tensed up, her hand on her yoyo as she whirled toward the voice. A man was standing on the other side of the roof. He wouldn’t have looked out of place in one of her mother’s Chinese period dramas - from the archaic yellow robes to the shaved head - and he looked every bit the part of one of those Buddhist monks. Unlike them, however, he clutched a sturdy staff in one hand. From the iron caps on the ends and the fact he wasn’t leaning on it, she assumed it was more a weapon than a walking stick. 

“That bodes well for the discipline that may have been instilled in you.”

The stranger frowned as Chat Noir sprung to his feet and pulled out his baton in one swift motion, crouching as he extended it into a full staff.

“Although, _clearly_ , there is still room for improvement.”

Spinning her yoyo into a shield, she watched the stranger carefully. “Who are you?”

“And why are you so interested in ‘discipline’?” The hostility in Chat’s voice surprised her, but she pushed it aside for later.

“My apologies.” He raised one hand to his chest, palm pointing to the side and bowed his head. “I am Master Namdak of the Guardian oOrder.”

“The Guardian oOrder…?” Chat Noir said slowly, his stance relaxing as his eyes widened. “You mean Master Fu wasn’t the last one?”

“‘Master’ Fu?” Confusion tinged Namdak’s voice. “I know of no master by that name. Although…” He cupped his chin with one hand, eyes narrowed as they stared past the heroes. “I do recall a young _acolyte_ by that name. And he _had_ been the one in charge of your miracle box.”

“I heard that your monastery had returned, but I didn’t expect to see you here in Paris.” Ladybug caught her yoyo in the palm of her hand and settled into a more casual pose. “I was pretty sure it would have taken you longer to react to suddenly returning after like almost two hundred years.”

Namdak smiled, the indulgent smirk of a grandfather. “When you are custodians of artifacts that are strange and powerful - such as the miraculous - things like this become the new mundane.”

“That’s great!” Chat slammed his fist into his palm, a wild grin on his face. “Does that mean you’re here to help us?”

“In time, most likely.” Namdak nodded. “But for now, we are simply taking stock - establishing new contacts and retrieving lost artifacts.”

Unbidden, suspicion welled inside her. 

“So what brings you here, then?” Ladybug’s eyes narrowed ever so slightly. “What’s your mission here? Contact or retrieval?”

Master Namdak continued smiling, but there was a hollowness to it, as if he took no joy in this conversation any longer.

“Retrieval.” Both hands settled on his staff - non-threateningly for now, though Ladybug didn’t fail to notice the tension in the air. “We know that you are in possession of the miracle box, chosen of Creation. _All_ miraculous must be returned to the fold.”

Chat Noir backed up, closing his hand over his ring and shooting glares at Namdak. “No way are we letting you takesteal our miraculous! _We_ were chosenfor this!”

“Chosen by a _renegade_ who never completed his training and yet deigned to call _himself_ by the highest rank of our order.” Anger and frustration had seeped into the master’s voice and he calmed himself after taking a deep and soothing breath. “I realize this comes as a great surprise to you, but this is for the greater good, I promise.”

“If the greater good means sacrificing all of Paris to Hawkmoth,” Ladybug snapped, hands on her hips and glaring down the old monk, “then it isn’t a good that I want to be a part of!” 

There was a long pause as they stared at each other. 

“...Hawkmoth?”

“Did you seriously come to Paris without even _trying_ to find out why two miraculous users were activated by your order?” Chat crossed his arms and snorted. “Talk about making a _monk_ -ey out of yourself.”

“We can sense the presence of the miracle box, not all that is inside it.” Namdak frowned disapprovingly at Chat Noir. “How could we have known?”

“You knew enough to find out where we start patrols,” Chat countered. “Looks like you just got lazy after stalking us for a while.”

“Hawkmoth - and his henchman, Mayura - are two villains terrorizing this city,” Ladybug said, stepping forward just when it seemed Namdak was about to respond to Chat. “They are the holders of the Butterfly and Peacock miraculous, respectively. From what _**Master** _Fu told me,” she said, placing extra emphasis on the title, “they were the ones who found those miraculous long after the fall of the Guardian oOrder.”

Namdak stared at them for a long moment before turning away, his hand rising to his chin once again. 

“This… changes things.”

“Good.” Ladybug smiled. “Maybe now that you understand what we’re going through, you can-”

“The Guardians will leave you with two miraculous, while returning the others to the custody of the Order. Two miraculous to fight two miraculous _-_ this is fitting.”

“No!” Ladybug threw her hands in the air. “No, this is _not_ ‘fitting’! Do you not know what abilities their miraculous hold? We’ve needed support from other miraculous from time to time and taking that option away from us will just make it all the harder to beat them.”

“All the more reason for my next suggestion.” Master Namdak pointed his staff at Chat. “He will need to surrender his miraculous. 

Chat Noir paled as Ladybug put herself between him and the Guardian. 

“That is _not_ happening. Chat Noir is my partner and—”

Namdak shook his head. “You misunderstand me. He may have another from the miracle box, but it is the height of foolishness to allow the two miraculous of reality to be within arm’s reach of such a villain.”

Ladybug put her arms on her hips. “So, what? Now you’re banking on us failing to stop Hawkmoth? If he wins, then you’re just going to have a greater problem on your hands.”

“A problem that would be much lessened without him having the ability to make wishes come true and a small army of miraculous champions,” Namdak replied, a distant quality to his eyes that made it seem like he was staring at another time entirely. “If you are as skilled as you seem to believe, then you will be able to hold your own until the Guardians can return to aid you.”

“No deal. I’m not about to let your paranoia doom my entire city.” She pulled out her yoyo and spun it into a shield. Behind her, she heard Chat Noir take his baton in his hands. “Now go back and tell the Guardians that we don’t want them here.”

“I will leave, but I _will_ return.” Master Namdak took a couple steps back, all without taking his eyes off of them. “You can count on that.”

She noticed too late that he had reached behind his back and tossed down a few clay pellets. When they hit the ground, a thick smoke blotted out all the meager light and both of them were wracked by coughing fits. By the time the smoke cleared a few moments later, he was gone.

“Well,” Chat said, between the last few coughing fits. “That wasn’t ominous at _all_.”

“Yeah… Think we did the right thing?”

“No doubt about it, LB. Why should we tie one hand behind our backs just ‘cause some old geezers want to do inventory?”

“Well, the miraculous _are_ technically theirs.”

“So are the butterfly and peacock, but you didn’t see him hitting up Hawkmoth for donations first, did you?”

“You’ve got a point there.” Ladybug sighed. “And for a minute, I was hoping we were about to have a new friend in this war.”

Chat Noir pulled her into a half-hug. “Don’t worry, m’lady. At least I’m always here for you.”

“At least there’s that,” Ladybug said with a smile. “Still want to do our patrol?”

“Nothing I want to do more. Lead the way, bugaboo!”


	2. Rest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette tries her best to relax, but the world has other plans.

“So what do you think about the Guardians?” Marinette looked at Tikki with one eye, keeping the other closed so she could at least pretend to be relaxing in her bubble bath. 

This had been on her schedule for _weeks_ and she was not about to let all her preparation go to waste. Not after Nino gave her a relaxing playlist and Alya had given her the strawberry scented candles. Besides, suddenly finding out that an ancient organization has it out for her was stressful and nothing was more relaxing than a bubble bath.

It didn’t quite work as planned, however. Instead of her troubles melting away in the hot water, she was simply soaking in the most tense bath of her life. 

“Hmmm…” Tikki poked her head above the sink, where the kwami was having her own, miniature bubble bath. “I’m a little surprised that they came after you like this.”

“Which part? How fast they did it, or them being such jerks about it?”

Tikki giggled. “Both, but mostly the second one. I was expecting they’d show up sooner rather than later. Like Master Fu, they’ve always taken their responsibilities very seriously and it was pretty obvious that there was probably a miracle box here. It’d be the best place to start.”

“I guess.” Marinette groaned as she submerged herself down to her chin in the water. “Were they always like this?”

A thoughtful frown crossed Tikki’s face. “I’m not sure. It’s been a couple centuries since I saw them last.”

“But didn’t you deal with them for, what, like thousands of years before that?”

“Sort of. The Guardians are a very… thorough group when it comes to keeping secrets. Kwamis don’t usually know about the order beyond the one Master assigned to their miracle box.”

“So you can’t spill the beans if you fall into the wrong hands?”

“Exactly. But it also made it so Master Fu could never find any other survivors - if there even were any!” Tikki sighed. “Sometimes I wish he hadn’t been so faithful in keeping the Guardian traditions alive.”

“Namdak seemed pretty upset about Fu calling himself master.”

“ _Master_ Namdak,” Tikki gently chastised. “He might seem like an enemy for now, but he is still due a little respect. Despite everything, we’re all supposed to be on the same team.”

“Try telling him that.” Snorting, Marinette stood up to dry off. The water was starting to go cold and if she was going to be stressed she’d rather at least be productive while she did it. “And respect is a two way deal, Tikki. He doesn’t get to just run in, make demands, and get to be treated like a friend.”

“That’s fair, I suppose.” Tikki rose from her sink bath and rubbed up against a hand towel. “Just don’t let the anger seep too deeply. I’m sure once this misunderstanding is worked out, the Guardians will be valuable allies.”

“I hope so, Tikki. With Master Fu gone and the box with me, I’ve never felt lonelier.” 

As much as she appreciated her partner, all the cards were in her hands. The power imbalance made it hard to really feel comforted by him, since she more often than not felt bad about keeping him in the dark. With those sombre thoughts rattling around in her head, she got dressed and left the bathroom.

She passed by the living room and poked her head in to see her parents watching TV and relaxing after a long day of work. Maybe relaxing _too_ much—her maman had fallen asleep on her papa’s shoulder and it looked like he was in a deep slumber too. With a smile, Marinette crept past so she wouldn’t wake them and headed up the stairs to her room. 

Her hand froze above her head as she suddenly realized there were noises coming from inside. It sounded like things were being moved around - furniture and papers mostly. Her first thought was that it might be some of the more mischievous kwamis having come out to play, but then the distinctive sound of footsteps made its way to her ears.

There was someone in her room. Poking around in her things. 

But who? 

Carefully, quietly, she raised the trapdoor and peered inside. A bit of orange robes covered in arcane symbols met her eyes and she let out an involuntary gasp.

He whirled around at the noise and if she hadn’t been sure before, she was now that she could see his face - Master Namdak, the emissary sent from the Guardians, was rummaging through her room. 

For a moment that stretched into eternity, they stared at each other, Marinette paralyzed by shock and Namdak caught in place.

Righteous, indignant fury gripped Marinette and she charged into her room.

“What do you think you’re doing?!” Despite her anger, she kept her voice down to a whisper-scream. Getting her parents to run up here would cause more problems than solve. 

“Looking for the miracle box, clearly.”

Marinette hesitated. “...And makes you think I have... Whatever that is?”

“Besides the fact that you are Ladybug?” Master Namdak raised an eyebrow. “I followed the aura of the miracle box across two continents. Upon reaching this city, only pinpointing its location proved difficult. Sensing it is child’s play to a true Master.”

Ignoring the way that her heart was threatening to beat out of her chest, she clenched her hands at her sides and narrowed her eyes. “If you know I’m Ladybug, then you know that I won’t be letting you get away with the box.”

The monk tensed - perhaps out of fear, or maybe because he expected a fight. “Now, now, surely you must realize that—”

“Tikki, spots on!”

Just as she called on her transformation, Namdak launched himself toward the ladder that led to her bed. Without stepping foot on her blankets, he pulled himself through her skylight and out of the room. She briefly toyed with the idea of chasing after him, but shot it down - he was more than capable of escaping them before, and with how paranoid the Guardians were proving to be, he’d no doubt made plans in case she went after him.

No, there was something much more important that she needed to check on. 


End file.
